DEDICATED TO FANS OF FUNKY NEW ORLEANS MUSIC (& OTHER GOOD STUFF) IN AND AROUND NYC.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Upcoming: Alex McMurray / Cristina Black @ Joe's Pub

Price: $15 / 9:30 PM / September 16

Show Description

If Alex McMurray's songwriting seems a bit dour at times--okay, most of the time--well then that's totally intentional. "Like Blanche DuBois in Streetcar," he says, "I find sorrow to be quite a beautiful emotion. Loneliness can be nice."
And he'd know. A New Orleans fixture since the '80s, the guitar slinger
is now widely recognized as the embodiment of the downtown New Orleans
lifestyle: sketchy bars, cracked sidewalks, fallen-down houses, tattered
hearts, broken spirits, discarded chicken bones. He's often compared to
Tom Waits; they both have whiskey-throated voices and share a curious
ability to find inspiration in the degenerate, not to mention an
obsession with the Ninth Ward. Except McMurray actually lives there.

“The most talented songwriter in New Orleans.”-Antigravity“Tom Waits-ian pathos cut with a Big Easy sweetener.”-Nola.com“One of the best young songwriters in the country.”-Gambit Weekly“He sees things we all see, but shows them in a new light.”-GoNola.com“One of the best songwriters working today.”-OffBeat

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Often compared to Nico and Fiona Apple for her smoke-and-honey character voice, Brooklyn singer-songwriter Cristina Black maintains
a cabaret-like propriety while drawing on the curious looseness of her
former home, New Orleans. A classically trained harpist and pianist from
age 4, Black turned to pop songwriting more recently when she took up
baritone ukulele and began crafting uncommon confessional songs about
things like love, money, death and disaster. Her debut album, The Ditty
Sessions, is the result of a magical collaboration with an all-star Big
Easy backing band that included Alex McMurray on guitar, Brian Coogan on
keys and the late Alex Chilton (of Big Star fame) on bass. Galactic’s
Ben Ellman oversaw the sessions at his own Number C studio in Uptown New
Orleans. Standout track “Purple Houses” describes the anxiety of
watching Hurricane Katrina swirl towards the Gulf Coast. The set also
addresses drug addiction on “These Days”, infidelity on “All I Want” and
the plight of the wealthy on the fan favorite “Drunk Rich People,”
which was recently featured on NBC’s prime time hit Parenthood. Live,
Black hops from uke to piano, performing with her New York-based band.